Douglas County-based Liberty Media has reached a deal to purchase the Atlanta Braves baseball team from Time Warner Inc. after more than a year of negotiations, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The agreement, subject to approval by Major League Baseball owners, would involve Liberty giving up about 60 million shares of Time Warner in exchange for the Braves, a group of craft magazines and $1 billion in cash, the Journal reported, citing an unidentified person familiar with the deal.

Based on the closing price of Time Warner’s stock Monday, the market value of the Liberty-owned shares would be about $1.27 billion.

Liberty Media spokesman John Orr and Time Warner spokesman Ed Adler declined to comment on the report.

Liberty currently has about 170 million shares of Time Warner, which is equivalent to a stake of about 4 percent of the media company, whose holdings include Time Warner Cable, HBO, AOL, CNN, Warner Bros. and Time Inc.

Time Warner acquired the Braves when it bought Turner Broadcasting Systems from Ted Turner in 1996.

Liberty Media, with extensive holdings in media and entertainment industries, would figure to hold on to the Braves longer than its previous foray in the sports business six years ago when it bought and sold the Colorado Avalanche, Denver Nuggets and Pepsi Center within a month.

To avoid taxes, Liberty would have to own the Braves for at least two years, according to corporate tax experts.

If the deal goes through, analysts have raised an intriguing question: Could former Braves owner Ted Turner – who is close to Liberty founder and chairman John Malone – become involved again with the team?

“I could see it happening, definitely,” sports business expert Jeff Marks, managing director of Los Angeles-based Sports Business Ventures, told The Denver Post last year. “(Turner’s) already struck gold there a couple of times.”

In March 2000, Liberty acquired the hockey Avs, basketball Nuggets and Pepsi Center as part of a $755 million deal for Denver-based Ascent Entertainment Group. Liberty sold the teams and arena four weeks later for $450 million to current owner Stan Kroenke. Liberty reportedly pocketed a profit of $150 million.

The so-called “cash-rich split off” deal that Liberty and Time Warner have negotiated would allow Liberty to avoid or defer capital-gains taxes on the appreciation of its Time Warner stock.

Some Braves players last year voiced concerns about the team being transferred to a company without strong local ties.

“If a guy who has a personal interest in the Braves buys the team, he’s more apt to take the money that he makes off the team and put it right back into the team – such as Ted (Turner) did,” Braves third baseman Chipper Jones told the Associated Press. “Time Warner didn’t do that. Obviously, selling out to (Liberty Media), I don’t see things being any different.”

A customer dining at Washington’s Oceanaire restaurant noticed an unusual line at the bottom of his receipt: “Due to the rising costs of doing business in this location, including costs associated with higher minimum wage rates, a 3% surcharge has been added to your total bill.”